System and method for event driven virtual workspace

ABSTRACT

A system and method for an event driven virtual workspace are described. According to one example method, a trader can define a plurality of windows to be associated with a virtual workspace. Also, the trader could define one or more triggering events, the combination of which may be used to activate the virtual workspace. In such an embodiment, when the system detects the one or more triggers, the system can attempt to activate the virtual workspace. According to the example method, the trader may place a number of limiting conditions before any states of the currently displayed windows are modified such that the triggered virtual workspace could be displayed. If no limiting conditions are detected, the system can display the triggered virtual workspace.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/701,235 filed Nov. 4, 2003, entitled “System and Method for EventDriven Virtual Workspace,” the contents of which are fully incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards electronic trading. Morespecifically, the present invention is directed towardsuser-configurable and event-driven workspaces.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, a trend towards electronic trading has becomewell-established, causing one major exchange after another to replace orat least supplement the traditional open outcry, where a trade is doneface to face, with automated, electronic systems which automaticallymatch bids and offers. While the motivation behind using electronictrading may vary from market to market, greater efficiency and volumeare some of the considerations.

Electronic trading is generally based on a host exchange, one or morecomputer networks and client devices. In general, the host exchangeincludes one or more centralized computers to form the electronic heart.The exchange allows a trader to participate in trading at least onetradeable object, and conducts matching of bids and offers that areplaced by the subscribing traders for that tradeable object. Typically,subscribing traders connect to an exchange by way of a communicationlink and through an application program interface to establish real-timeelectronic messaging between the exchange and their terminals. Thereal-time electronic messaging includes market information that is sentfrom an electronic market to the traders.

An electronic exchange can list any number of tradeable objects. Oftentimes, traders will simultaneously trade more than one tradeable object,and they may simultaneously trade tradeable objects that are listed atmore than one exchange. Ordinarily, each tradeable object has its ownseparate stream of market information. Therefore, in these instances,the traders will generally receive more than one stream of marketinformation such that each stream of market information willcharacterize a given tradeable object. In addition to receiving marketinformation from exchanges, a trader could also subscribe to news feedsto receive real-time quotations that may assist the trader in making histrading decisions.

Generally, when a trader submits an order to a host exchange, the hostchecks the conditions associated with the order, for example, price andquantity, and prioritizes the order with other orders at the same price.When the order conditions are satisfied in the market, a trade occursand the trade information is then relayed in some fashion to one or moreclient devices such that traders can have access to the most currentmarket information.

Market information commonly includes information regarding the insidemarket and market depth. The inside market is the lowest sell price inthe market and the highest buy price in the market at a particular pointin time. Market depth refers to quantities available at the insidemarket and may also refer to quantities available at other prices awayfrom the inside market. The quantity available at a given price level isusually provided by the host exchange in aggregate sums. In other words,a host exchange usually provides the total buy or the total sellquantity available in the market at a particular price level in its datafeed. The extent of the market depth available to a trader usuallydepends on the host exchange. For instance, some host exchanges providemarket depth for all or many price levels, while some provide onlyquantities associated with the inside market, and others may provide nomarket depth at all. Additionally, host exchanges can offer other typesof market information such as the last traded price (“LTP”), the lasttraded quantity (“LTQ”), and user-specific information such as orderfill information that is sent to a user associate with the filled order.

Traders interact with electronic exchanges using trading screens.Trading screens allow traders to view market information as well as anynews or charting applications on which traders may base their tradingactions. Upon viewing the provided information, traders may use tradingscreens to take certain actions including the actions of sending buy orsell orders to one or more electronic exchanges, adjusting existingorders, deleting orders, or otherwise managing orders. Traders may alsouse software tools on their client devices to automate those andadditional actions.

In many instances, spotting an opportunity in the market andcapitalizing on it before the market moves or before a competing traderdoes can separate those traders who are successful from those who arenot. Often, trading schemes require monitoring of market informationrelated to multiple tradeable objects, as well as monitoring news and/orcharts from many different sources. An important component incapitalizing on an opportunity involves quickly assimilating informationand then quickly acting on that information to get the order to theexchange for matching. In many instances, the size of a trading screenlimits the number of windows or the amount of information that can besimultaneously displayed to a trader. As the number of tradeable objectsbeing traded by a trader increases, the ability of the trader to quicklyaccess and view desired information will be therefore further reduced.

Thus, it is desirable for electronic trading applications to offer toolsthat can assist a trader in trading in an electronic tradingenvironment, help the trader making profitable trades in a speedy andaccurate manner, while allowing the trader to control the trading screendisplay.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Example embodiments of the present invention are described herein withreference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an example network configuration for a communication systemutilized to access one or more exchanges;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example client device that canbe used in the example network of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating two example monitors that atrader may use with the present embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a first virtual workspace thatcan be displayed on a display screen;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a second virtual workspace thatcan be displayed on the display screen of FIG. 4 upon detecting one ormore preset triggering events; and

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a flow chart illustrating a method for processingvirtual workspaces according to one example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Virtual Workspace Overview

A system and method are developed for providing an event driven virtualworkspace. According to one method, a trader may first define a numberof characteristics for one or more virtual workspaces. In oneembodiment, a trader can characterize a virtual workspace by defining anumber of windows to be associated with the workspace, as well as one ormore triggering events, the combination of which can be used to triggerthe activation of the virtual workspace on one or more screens. A tradercould also predefine a layout of all windows on a virtual workspace suchthat, when the workspace is activated, the windows can be displayed intrader-defined locations on a display screen.

Once a trader defines a virtual workspace, a system can start monitoringtriggering events associated with the workspace. When the system detectsone or more events associated with the trigger activating a virtualworkspace, the system can automatically attempt to activate theworkspace on one or more screens being used by the trader. Also,according to example embodiments, a trader could define a number oflimitations as to when and which currently displayed windows can bereplaced with other windows associated with a virtual workspace. Suchlimitations that control the status changes of the displayed windows canbe based on many different user-defined or system-preset criteria. Forexample, some limitations may be based on user-actions, such asdetecting mouse movements or user inputs in relation to a window.Additional example limitations, as well as the operation of theevent-driven virtual workspaces, will be described in greater detailbelow.

While the present invention is described herein with reference toillustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should beunderstood that the present invention is not limited thereto. Thosehaving ordinary skill of art will recognize that many additionalmodifications and embodiments are possible as well.

II. Hardware and Software Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example trading system 100 inaccordance with the preferred embodiments. The system 100 includes ahost exchange 100, a gateway 102, and a client device 104. However, itshould be understood that more than one client device could connect to aplurality of exchanges via a plurality of gateways, and FIG. 1illustrates a simplified system.

Although each referenced component in FIG. 1 is described directly belowin their respective sections, it should be understood that thecomponents may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software andhardware aspects. Furthermore, some of the components of FIG. 1 may takethe form of a computer readable medium having a computer readableprogram code means embodied in a storage medium. Any suitable computerreadable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMS, opticalstorage devices, or magnetic storage devices. Also, it should beunderstood that the preferred embodiment may be implemented on manyother system configurations.

A. Exchange

Host exchange 100 may include, for example, the London InternationalFinancial Futures and Options Exchange (“LIFFE”), the Chicago Board ofTrade (“CBOT”), the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), the ChicagoMercantile Exchange (“CME”), the Exchange Electronic Trading (“Xetra,” aGerman stock exchange), or the European exchange (“Eurex”). Exchange 100might also refer to other known facilities that automatically matchincoming orders that are received from client device. The exampleexchanges and other exchanges are well known in the art.

Exchange 100 allows traders to trade tradeable objects that exchange 100offers for trading. As used herein, the “tradeable object” refers simplyto anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. Itincludes, but is not limited to, all types of tradeable objects such asfinancial products, which can include, for example, stocks, options,bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivatives,and collections of the foregoing, and all types of commodities, such asgrains, energy, and metals. The tradeable object may be “real,” such asproducts that are listed by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic,”such as a combination of real products that is created by the user. Atradeable object could actually be a combination of tradeable objects,such as a class of tradeable object.

According to the preferred embodiments, to keep participating tradersinformed of changes in a market, exchange 100 relays market informationover a transmission channel 108 to client device 104 via gateway 102.Transmission channel 108 can include any connection types being used byexchange 100, such as a T1 line, for example, and the transmissionchannel can carry information in either analog or digital format. Itshould be understood that exchange 100 could use a number of differentcommunication protocols for connecting and sending market information toclient devices. For example, exchange 100 can connect to client device104 using TCP/IP, and can provide market information using the FinancialInformation exchange (FIX) protocol, which is a messaging standarddeveloped specifically for real-time electronic exchange typetransactions. FIX is a public-domain specification owned and maintainedby FIX Protocol, Ltd.

Market information that exchange 100 sends to client device 104 viagateway 102 may include data that represents just the inside market,where the inside market is the lowest sell price (best offer) in themarket, and the highest buy price (best bid) in the market at aparticular point in time. Market information may also include marketdepth, where market depth refers to quantities available at the insidemarket and can also refer to quantities available at other prices awayfrom the inside market. It should be understood that market informationcan also contain other types of market information such as the lasttraded price (“LTP”), the last traded quantity (“LTQ”), and/or anytrader related information, such as fill information, associated with atrader receiving a particular data feed.

Once a trader submits an order to an exchange, the exchange may processthe order using different execution algorithms, and the type ofalgorithm used may depend on the tradeable object being traded. Someexample order execution algorithms include first-in-first-out (“FIFO”)and pro rata algorithms. The FIFO algorithm, used for some tradeableobjects listed with Eurex, for example, gives priority to the firstperson in an order queue at an exchange to place an order. The pro rataalgorithm, used for some tradeable objects listed with LIFFE, forexample, splits orders for the same price, and the orders at identicalprices are filled in proportion to their size. Also, it should beunderstood that the price order queue is a term that covers a broadrange of systems used by an exchange to conduct orderly financialtransactions such as, for example, a FIFO based system or a pro ratasystem. Also, the present invention is not limited to any particulartype of order execution algorithm, and different algorithms could alsobe used.

B. Gateway

According to the preferred embodiment, gateway 102 can be a computerrunning software that receives market information and order informationfrom host exchange 100. As used herein, a computer includes any devicewith memory 110 and a processor 112 capable of processing information toproduce a desired result. Thus, gateway 102 can be a computer of anysize such as a server, workstation, personal computer, or laptop, but,generally, gateway 102 can be any computer device that has theprocessing capability to perform the function described herein. Also, itshould be understood that the functions of gateway 102 could be moved tohost exchange 100 and/or client device 104 to reduce or eliminate theneed for gateway 102.

In the preferred embodiment, gateway 102 receives market information aswell as order related data from host exchange 100, and forwards thereceived data to client device 104. In one embodiment, while marketinformation may be transmitted between exchange 100 and client device104 using multicast transmission, order related information, such asorder fills and order requests, are typically sent using unicasttransmission. As known in the art, while the multicast allows forcommunication between a single sender and multiple receivers in thenetwork, the unicast only allows for communication between a singlesender and a single receiver. It should be understood that while thereare many possible protocols that can be used to multicast and unicastinformation between exchange 100 and client device 104 via gateway 102,the Pragmatic General Multicast (“PGM”) protocol could be used formulticasting, and the Point to Point Protocol (“PPP”) could be used forunicasting, for example.

Also, as known by those skilled in the art, gateway 102 may have one ormore servers to support data feeds that are received from exchange 100.In one embodiment, gateway 102 may include a price server 114 forprocessing price information, an order server 116 for processing orderinformation, and a fill server 118 for processing fill information.Generally, a server is software that responds to commands from clientdevice 104 in the form of subscription. That is, a trader at clientdevice 114 can subscribe to price information, order information, andfill information for a particular tradeable object being offered at hostexchange 100. In one embodiment, the subscription may be established viaa process of sending a number of messages between client device 104 andgateway 102. For example, gateway 102 may first authenticate a trader atclient device 104, and then client device 104 may establish separatecommunication links, such as IP links, to each server at gateway 102. Inthe embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, client device 104 would establishthree separate IP connections to three servers at gateway 102.

Price server 114, order server 116, and fill server 118 receiveinformation from exchange 100. According to a preferred embodiment,price server 114 may receive and process price information related toone or more tradeable objects being offered at exchange 100, while orderserver 116 may receive and process order related information. In oneembodiment, exchange 100 may be connected to gateway 102 using twocommunication links, a first link between exchange 100 and price server114, and a second link between exchange 100 and order server 116. Insuch an embodiment, a separate connection may exist between order server116 and fill server 118 such that, when the order information that isreceived at order server 116 includes any fill related information,order server 116 may pass the fill data to fill server 118, which maythen process and send the fill data to client device 104.

C. Client Device

Client device 104 can be a computer such as a workstation, desktop,laptop, hand-held device, personal digital assistant (“PDA”), smartphone, any other wired or wireless communication device, and so forth,that allow a trader to trade one or more tradeable objects that areoffered at exchange 100. Client device 104 may include at leastprocessor and memory. The processor and memory, which are bothwell-known computer components, are not shown in the Figure for sake ofclarity. Preferably, the processor has enough processing power to handleand process various types of market information. The more marketinformation is received and processed, the more processing power ispreferred. However, any present day processor has enough capability toperform at least the most basic part of the present invention.

Memory may include a computer readable medium. The term computerreadable medium, as used herein, refers to any medium that participatesin providing instructions to a processor unit for execution. Such amedium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatilemedia, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example,optical or magnetic disks, such as storage devices. Volatile mediainclude, for example, dynamic memory, such as main memory or randomaccess memory (“RAM”). Common forms of computer-readable media include,for example, floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tape,punch cards, CD-ROM, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, and anyother memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which acomputer can read.

Client device 104 can communicate with gateway 102 via differentnetworks, such as a Local Area Network (“LAN”), a Wide Area Network(“WAN”), or a wireless network via a Virtual Private Network (“VPN”),for example, or a combination thereof. Also, gateway 102 and clientdevice 104 can communicate order and market related information usingany messaging protocols, such as any proprietary messaging protocols.However, it should be understood that different networks and differentmessaging protocols could also be used.

When client device 104 receives market information and order relatedinformation from exchange 100, the received information may be displayedto the trader(s) on the visual output device or display device of clientdevice 104. The output device can be any display type. For example, thedisplay could be a CRT-based video display, an LCD-based or a gasplasma-based flat-panel display, a display that shows three-dimensionalimages, or some other type of display.

Upon viewing the market information or a portion thereof, a trader maywish to send orders to an exchange, cancel orders, change orders, queryan exchange, and so on. To do so, the trader may input various commandsor signals into client device 104 such as by typing into a keyboard,inputting commands through a mouse, or inputting commands or signalsthrough some other input device. For instance, a trader may click amouse button to initiate an order to buy a particular quantity of thetradeable object at a particular price. Then, client device 104preferably generates transaction information. There are many differenttypes of messages and/or order types that can be submitted, all of whichmay be considered various types of transaction information. Oncegenerated, transaction information is sent from client device 104 tohost exchange 100 over communication links.

In the preferred embodiment, client device 104 uses software to createspecialized interactive trading screens on terminals associated withthem. Trading screens preferably enable traders to, among other things,enter and execute orders, obtain market quotes, and monitor positions.The range and quality of features available to the trader on his or hertrading screens may vary according to the specific software applicationbeing run. In addition to or in place of the interactive tradingscreens, client device 104 could run automated non-interactive types oftrading applications.

The preferred embodiment may be implemented on any type of tradingscreen, therefore, details regarding the trading screen are notnecessary to understand the present invention. However, in oneembodiment, one type of trading screen that can be used is provided by acommercially available trading application referred to as X_TRADER® fromTrading Technologies International, Inc. of Chicago, Ill. X_TRADER® alsoprovides an electronic trading interface, referred to as MD TRADER™, inwhich working orders and/or bid and ask quantities are displayed inassociation with a static price axis or scale. Portions of the X_TRADER®and the MD TRADER™-style display are described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/590,692, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,132, entitled“Click Based Trading With Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth,” filedon Jun. 9, 2000, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/971,087, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,127,424, entitled “Click Based Trading With Intuitive GridDisplay of Market Depth and Price Consolidation,” filed on Oct. 5, 2001,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/125,894, entitled “Trading Tools ForElectronic Trading,” filed on Apr. 19, 2002, and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/376,417, entitled “A System and Method for Trading andDisplaying Market Information in an Electronic Trading Environment,”filed on Feb. 28, 2003, the contents of each are incorporated herein byreference. However, it should be understood that orders in the systemillustrated in FIG. 1 could also be placed using any other tradingapplication as well. Additionally, the preferred embodiments are notlimited to any particular product that performs translation, storage,and display function.

Also, a trader at the client device 104 might subscribe to one or morenews services to receive news feeds such as Bloomberg and Reuters,and/or the trader might subscribe to real-time quotation vendors thatprovide information to traders for decision support. However, it shouldbe understood that traders could subscribe to other news and informationsources, all of which are collectively referred to as news data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example client device 200,which may be similar to the type of client device 104 shown in FIG. 1.The client device 200 can be any particular type of computing device,examples of which were enumerated above with respect to the clientdevice. According to the preferred embodiments, the client device 200has a trading application 202 stored in a memory unit that when executedarranges and displays market information in many particular ways,usually depending on how the trader prefers to view the information.

Client device 200 also includes a virtual workspace application 204 thatcan implement the embodiments of the event-driven virtual workspacesdescribed herein. More specifically, and as will be described in greaterdetail below, the virtual workspace application 204 can automaticallyactivate and deactivate virtual workspaces upon detecting one or moretriggers associated with the workspaces. The virtual workspaceapplication 204 can also monitor a number of limiting conditions thatcan be used to prevent the activation of a new workspace in place of thecurrently displayed virtual workspace.

Preferably, the trading application 202 and the virtual workspaceapplication 204 have access to market information through an applicationprogramming interface (“API”) 206, and the trading application 202 couldalso forward transaction information to the exchange 212 via the API206. Alternatively, the API 206 could be distributed so that a portionof the API 206 rests on the client device 200 and a gateway, or at theexchange 212. Additionally, the trading application 202 and the virtualworkspace application 204 could receive other information through theAPI 206, such as news or numbers from outside sources other than theexchange 212.

Additionally, the trading application 202 and the virtual workspaceapplication 204 could receive signals from an input device 216 via aninput device interface 210, and can be given the ability to send signalsto a display device 214 via a display device interface 208.

III. Event-Driven Virtual Workspace

FIG. 3 is a block diagram 300 showing two example monitors that a tradercould use with the present embodiments. It should be understood that theexample embodiments are not limited to any number of monitors and moreor fewer monitors could also be used depending on the user's tradingpreferences. In FIG. 3, monitors 300 resemble an LCD-based or a gasplasma-based flat-panel often used with desktop computers or dockingstations for laptop computers. However, any monitor or display device(e.g., a display device represented by block 214 in FIG. 2) on whichimages may be generated could also be used. Therefore, it should beunderstood that the present embodiments are not limited to anyparticular type of display device, but for sake of illustration someexample display devices include a cathode ray tube (CRT), a projector ormultiple projectors that can be used to a create a tiled display with anoverlapping projection, a display made up of light emitting diodes(LEDs), or some other types of displays, such as passive output devices.

The monitors 300 include display screens 302 and 304, respectively. Adisplay screen is a visual output of a monitor. In general, displayscreens 302 and 304 remain static while other elements on the screens302 and 304 can change. Display screens 302 and 304 display a number ofwindows 306-314 and 316-322, respectively.

As known in the art, every graphical-based application creates at leastone window that serves as an interface between a user and theapplication. The embodiments described hereinafter are described inreference to windows, however, it should be understood that the presentinvention is not limited to displaying windows, and different graphicaluser interfaces or non-window based messaging or icons could also beused as part of virtual workspaces.

Many applications may also create windows to perform tasks related tothe main window, and each window may display output as well as receiveinput from a user. The displayed output may include text or graphicssuch as news updates or any charts or graphs that are provided byapplications running on a client device or outside sources. Each windowcan have a number of predefined attributes such as a window's style,position, or size, for example. A window's style defines differentaspects of the window's appearance and behavior. A window's position maybe defined as the coordinates of its upper left corner in relation tosome predefined location on a display. Then, a window's size may varybased on a size of a display interface. However, some applications maycreate windows with a client area having a particular minimum size dueto the visibility limitations associated with each window.

In addition to the window's size, position, and style, there are manyways to control a window's position in relation to other windows. Forexample, some windows could be foreground windows while others could bebackground windows. Typically, each process can create multiple windows.The window with which the user is currently working is called aforeground window, and all other windows are called background windows.Also, a user can at any time set a foreground window by clicking anydisplayed windows or selecting a predetermined key combination.

In addition to setting a window as a foreground or background window,the window's position in a stack of the overlapping windows can becontrolled by the z-order associated with each window. It can be assumedthat the window stack is oriented along an imaginary axis, a z-axis thatextends outward from the screen. In such a configuration, windows at thetop of the z-order overlap the windows at the bottom of the z-order.Typically, when an application creates a window, the created window isplaced at the top of the z-order for windows of the same type. However,the z-orders of the windows could also be rearranged using predefinedfunctions. Also, a user can change the existing z-order of a set ofwindows by activating one of the windows that will be subsequentlypositioned at the top of the z-order associated with windows of the sametype.

Also, at any given time, a window can have different states. Forexample, a window can be active or inactive/disabled, maximized orminimized, hidden or visible, or restored. An active window is thetop-level window of an application with which a user is currentlyworking. To enable a user to easily identify an active window, thesystem can change colors of a title bar or a border of the active windowto the system-defined colors, and may place the active window at the topof the z-order. A window can also be disabled. A disabled windowreceives no keyboard or mouse input from the user, but it can receivemessages from other windows, applications, or from the system. Forexample, an application can disable a window to prevent a user fromselecting one or more selection inputs associated with the window.

Windows can also be visible or hidden. The system displays visiblewindows on the screen and hides hidden windows. Unlike a visible window,if a window is hidden, a window is not displayed on a screen, and a usercannot enter any inputs to the window or to view the window's output.However, even though the window is hidden, it may still process messagesfrom the system or from other windows. An application can set avisibility state for a window when it creates the window, and then canchange the visibility state at a later time.

Finally, a user may wish to change the size of some windows that aredisplayed via a display interface. The size changes may includemaximizing or minimizing some windows. A maximized window is a windowthat fills the full screen. Alternatively, if a window is linked toanother window, such that one of the windows is a “child” window of a“parent” window, the child window may be effectively clipped to the sizeof the parent window such that no part of the child window ever appearsoutside the area of the parent window. In such an embodiment, when thechild window is maximized, the size of the parent window controls thesize of the maximized child window. When a user minimizes a window, thesystem may display the window in a form of an indicator on a taskbar.However, alternatively, an indicator associated with the minimizedwindow does not necessarily have to be displayed on the taskbar.

An application can also control the size and position of its windows.For example, an application can specify a window's initial size andposition when it creates the window. However, the window's size andposition can be changed at any time either by the application or by auser. An application could also configure its windows such that eachwindow is associated with the maximum and minimum possible size that canbe set by a user dragging the window's sizing border, for example.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the size of displays 302 and 304 associatedwith each monitor is often a limiting factor as to how many windowsassociated with one or more applications can be simultaneously openedand effectively viewed by a trader. The use of multiple monitors asillustrated in FIG. 3 solves the problem only partially since, eventhought the effective area that can be used for displaying variouswindows increases, a trader could still have problems to mentallyintegrate various pieces of information displayed on the multiplescreens. To be successful, a trader in an electronic trading environmentmust be able to assimilate large amounts of market information, and mostimportantly, react more quickly than other competing marketparticipants.

According to example embodiments, a trader may define a number ofvirtual workspaces including a plurality of windows, and each virtualworkspace can be controlled by one or more triggering events defined bythe trader. A virtual workspace, as used herein, may include acollection of windows associated with multiple and unrelatedapplications. For example, the virtual workspace may include a pluralityof windows associated with trading applications, such as one or morewindows associated with trading interfaces enabling a trader to trademultiple tradeable objects, and other windows associated with chartingapplications. Each set of windows associated with a virtual workspacemay be treated as a collection of windows against which a system mayapply a plurality of actions upon detecting one or more events definedby a trader and triggering the certain actions.

It should be understood that triggers may be based on many differentmarket-related, trader-related, news-related, time-based, or differentevents. Market-related triggering events may include any events relatedto one or more tradeable objects such as prices of one or more tradeableobjects moving out of some specific range, prices moving at all, ormarkets crossing. The trader-related triggering events may includedetecting a predetermined profit/loss (“P/L”) level, a predetermined netposition, an available credit, a combination thereof, or any othertrader-related events. The news-related triggering events may includedetecting an announcement of predetermined numbers, such as unemploymentnumbers, or detecting a number being at some predetermined, user-definedlevel. The time-based triggers may be activated upon detecting aspecific time during a trading session, for example. Also, a triggeractivating or deactivating a certain virtual workspace may be based on aBoolean expressions defining one or more conditions that when satisfiedtrigger the activation or deactivation of the certain virtual workspace.

However, it should be understood that triggering events are not limitedto automatically detected events. Alternatively, triggering events maytake a format of user actions, such as a user selecting a specific keyor a combination of keys. In such an embodiment, different keycombinations could be associated with different virtual workspaces, andselecting a specific key combination could enable a trader to easilyswitch between a workspace that is currently displayed on a display anda workspace associated with the selected key combination.

Also, as mentioned earlier, once the system detects one or moretriggering events associated with a predetermined virtual workspace, thesystem may take certain actions that may vary based on the configurationor user preferences. In one embodiment, a trader could define “triggeron” states, such as certain window states to be activated upon detectingone or more triggers, as well as “trigger off” states, such as windowstates to be activated upon detecting an expiration of the one or moretriggers. It should be understood that the “trigger on” and “triggeroff” states could be window-specific or workspace-specific.

In one embodiment, some of the actions that can be applied to thedisplayed windows may include modification of the window's size,location, z-order, or transparency, for example. Also, a window may beconfigured such that it will always stay on top of other windowsregardless of the z-order of other windows. Alternatively, upondetecting a predetermined trigger, the windows' format or color canchange, or a predetermined collection of windows can start flashing. Itshould be understood that if the window changes involve color or formatchanges, such changes may be based on predefined user-configured rules.Also, in another embodiment, a set of indicators can be displayed inassociation with a collection of windows upon detecting one or moretriggers. It should be understood that some window changes may belimited to those changes that are permitted by an operating system beingused by a trader. Additionally, some window changes may be applicationspecific.

In an embodiment using multiple monitors, all or some windows displayedin relation to one of the monitors may be swapped with windows beingdisplayed on another monitor, such as the monitor being currently usedby a trader. For example, a monitor in relation to which the system hasdetected a mouse movement within some predefined time period may bedesignated as the currently used monitor. Alternatively, a trader canassign different workspaces to different monitors such that, upondetecting one or more triggers associated with a workspace, theworkspace can be activated on a monitor that was pre-assigned to theworkspace.

Also, the focus of different windows can be changed depending on whethera window is associated with a virtual workspace that is currentlydisplayed on a display screen. Changing the focus of different windowsmay include changing the sharpness or intensity of some colors that areused in relation to one or more windows; however, different methods forchanging the focus of different windows could also be used. Also, thefocus could be changed depending on the user preferences. In addition tochanging the focus of each window, a user could also define windowtransparency levels for a set of overlapping windows associated with avirtual workspace.

It should be understood that a user could place a number of limitationsas to when and which currently displayed windows can be replaced withother windows associated with a virtual workspace. The limitations thatcontrol the status changes of the displayed windows can be based on manydifferent user-defined or system-preset criteria. The existence of suchlimitations may be crucial in certain situations where the interruptionto the trader's work could have potentially adverse consequences. Forexample, stealing the focus of a trading interface being currently usedby a trader, or replacing such interface with another window, may beharmful to a trader in some situations.

It should be understood that many different limitations could be definedin relation to virtual workspaces. For example, some limitations may bebased on user-actions. The limitations based on user-actions can includedetecting a mouse movement in relation to a specific window within apredetermined time period before detecting one or more triggers thattrigger the activation of a virtual workspace. Once such mouse movementsare detected in relation to one or more windows, such windows may betagged with always on top identifiers that can prevent the windows fromgetting deactivated in order to display a new virtual workspace, forexample. In such an embodiment, once a window is tagged with an alwayson top identifier, the window may be assigned the highest z-order.However, it should be understood that the always on top identifier maybe disabled upon detecting one or more triggering events associated withdifferent workspaces.

In one embodiment, a trader could configure valid mouse movements thatmay initiate the process of tagging certain windows with always on topidentifiers or equivalent identifiers that would prevent other windowsfrom being placed on top of the tagged windows. The valid mousemovements can be characterized based on a direction of the mousemovements, for example. In one embodiment, the horizontal or verticalmouse movement could be considered as invalid mouse movements, whilemouse movements at some angles could be considered valid. A trader couldalso define different sensitivity levels for mouse movements, such ashow fast a trader moves a mouse, which may also affect a determinationof whether the mouse movement is valid. Additionally, rather thantracking the mouse movement, a mouse position may affect which windowsare tagged with the always on top identifiers. For example, as long as amouse is positioned over a window, such window may be tagged with analways on top identifier, and no other window will overlay the taggedwindow.

Alternatively, rather than tracking the mouse movements or mousepositions, a window can be tagged with an always on top identifier upondetecting one or more predefined actions in relation to a specificwindow. The actions may include detecting a certain user input inrelation to a window within some predetermined time period. However, itshould be understood that the always on top identifier could be onlytemporarily assigned to a window, and the window may return to itsinitial pre-assignment state once certain actions that have triggeredthe assignment are no longer present.

The limiting conditions could be also divided into two groups, such asworkspace-specific and/or window-specific limiting conditions. In suchan embodiment, a trader could also set priority levels for limitingconditions, such that a limiting condition associated with one of thewindows can override any conditions specified for the entire workspace,and vice versa. For example, if a workspace includes the combination ofthe two limiting condition types, upon detecting one or more triggersactivating a display of a new virtual workspace, the virtual workspaceapplication may first determine if there are any workspace relatedlimiting conditions and then if there are any window-specific limitingconditions. The virtual workspace application may then determine acontrolling condition based on the specified priority level. Forexample, if the currently displayed virtual workspace does not includeany limiting conditions, and the limiting condition associated with oneof the displayed windows does not permit for overriding that window withany other window, the virtual workspace application may deactivate otherwindows associated with the workspace except for the window associatedwith the limiting condition.

Also, it should be understood that a number of windows associated with avirtual workspace may be linked and may share the same characteristics,such as a z-order or an always on top identifier. Alternatively, each ofthe linked windows can have different characteristics that can changeupon detecting different triggers. However, it should be understood thatthe window changes described above are only examples, and those skilledin the art will understand that different embodiments are possible aswell.

Also, rather than or in addition to limiting a display of a virtualworkspace based on user actions detected in relation to one or morewindows or based on predefined characteristics associated with eachwindow, a user may be notified every time a new workspace is to bedisplayed in place of another currently displayed workspace. In such anembodiment, before any windows associated with an activated workspacecan replace any other currently displayed windows, the virtual workspaceapplication may first notify a trader that one or more triggering eventsassociated with the virtual workspace has been detected. Then, once thetrader is notified, and the virtual workspace application detects a useraction indicating that the trader wishes to have the virtual workspaceactivated, the workspace application may activate the new workspace. Itshould be understood that the notification can take many differentformats such as flashing one or more windows, displaying a message or anindicator in relation to one or more currently active windows, orplaying a sound associated with a workspace to be activated on a displayscreen, for example. Also, the user action activating the virtualworkspace can take many different formats. In one embodiment, the useraction can include selecting one or more keys, or selecting an indicatorthat can be displayed in relation to a virtual workspace. However, itshould be understood that the user notifications and actions could takedifferent formats as well.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are block diagrams illustrating two different workspaces400 and 500 that can be displayed on the same display screen upondetecting one or more preset triggering events. Referring first to FIG.4, the workspace 400 includes three trading interfaces 402, 404, and 406that can be used to trade three different tradeable objects (T/O 1-T/O3) that can be offered at one or more exchanges. The workspace 400 alsoincludes three additional windows 408, 410, and 412, where the windows408 and 410 display two market-related charts, and the window 412displays risk-related information, for example. It should be understoodthat the types of windows illustrated in relation to the workspace 400of FIG. 4 as well as to the workspace 500 of FIG. 5 are only examples,and different types of windows could also be displayed, such as orderbook windows or fill windows. Also, the trading interfaces windows402-406 can be controlled by one or more trading applications, whileother windows, such as the windows 408 and 410 can be controlled by oneor more charting applications that are independent and separate from thetrading applications.

As mentioned in earlier paragraphs, upon detecting one more triggeringevents predefined by a trader, the workspace 400 or at least some of thewindows associated with the workspace 400 may be replaced with a set ofdifferent windows associated with a different virtual workspace. Also,as mentioned in earlier paragraphs, some workspaces may share one ormore windows, and some windows can be tagged with one or moreidentifiers preventing other windows associated with a differentworkspace to be displayed on top of the marked windows.

FIG. 5 illustrates the display interface of FIG. 4 at some later timeupon detecting one or more triggering events that have been defined toactivate the workspace 500. The workspace 500 includes four tradinginterface windows 502, 504, 506, and 508 associated with four tradeableobjects (T/O 1-T/O 4), where the trading interface windows 504 and 506associated with the T/O 2 and T/O 1 correspond to the trading interfacewindows 404 and 402 of FIG. 4. Also, the windows 510 and 512 correspondto the windows 408 and 412, respectively. It should be understood thatthe workspace 500 could include an entirely different set of windowsthan that associated with the display interface of FIG. 4. Also, itshould be understood that the position of the windows on the twoworkspaces 400 and 500 could be determined based on user workspaceconfigurations.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a flow chart illustrating a method 600 forcontrolling virtual workspaces according to one example embodiment.Referring to FIG. 6A, at step 602, a trader may define a plurality ofwindows and trigger to be associated with a virtual workspace. Asmentioned in earlier paragraphs, the trigger can take many differentformats including trader-related triggers, market-related triggers,news-related triggers, time-based triggers, user initiated triggers thatcan be based on user inputs, or the combination thereof. Also, a triggerassociated with a virtual workspace could include an unlimitedcombination of conditions that have to be met before determining thatthe trigger has been detected. For example, a trigger could take aformat of any Boolean expression, such as If {(Monday AND Price>1,000)OR (Tuesday AND Price<1,000)}, or any other more or less complex Booleanexpression. However, it should be understood that different triggerconditions could also be used, and the example embodiments are notlimited to the trigger conditions provided above.

At step 604, a trader may define a “trigger on” state for each windowassociated with the workspace. It should be understood that the “triggeron” state may simply include a request to activate a window. However,the trigger on state may define additional limitations such as theinitial size of the window, a position of the window on a screen inrelation to other windows, or any other window characteristics. At step606, the trader may define a “trigger off” state for each window, suchas window characteristics upon detecting the expiration of one or moretriggers associated with the virtual workspace. In one embodiment, the“trigger off” state may simply include a request to deactivate a window.However, it should be understood that different window states could bedefined for the “trigger off” state. For example, upon detecting the“trigger off” state, the window's size, transparency, or z-order couldbe changed.

At step 608, the trader may define a number of limiting conditions foreach window. Such limiting condition, as mentioned in earlierparagraphs, may be used to prevent other windows from fully or partiallyreplacing a window associated with the limiting condition. The limitingconditions may be based on many different factors, includinguser-related actions or any pre-assigned window characteristics. Also,the limiting conditions could take a format of messages informing atrader about detecting one or more triggers associated with theworkspace. Such messages may include a query whether one or morecurrently displayed windows should be replaced with a new set of windowsassociated with a new workspace.

At step 610, the virtual workspace application may detect a triggeractivating a virtual workspace. Then, at step 612, the virtual workspaceapplication may check for any limiting conditions associated with a setof currently displayed windows. The example limiting conditions havebeen described above. For example, the limiting conditions may includedetecting a user action in relation to one or more windows beingcurrently displayed on a display unit. If any limiting conditions aredetected, the method 600 may continue at step 612, where the virtualworkspace application may keep checking if the limiting conditions arestill present. Referring back to step 612, if no limiting conditions aredetected, at step 614, the virtual workspace application will modify astate of at least one currently displayed window to display the virtualworkspace. The modification of the currently displayed windows can takemany different formats, such as changing the focus, z-order, size,color, or fully deactivating the current workspace and replacing it witha new workspace. However, those skilled in the art will recognize thatdifferent window modifications are possible as well, and the presentembodiments for event driven virtual workspaces are not limited to theembodiments described herein.

At step 616, the virtual workspace application may determine if thetrigger associated with the activated workspace has expired. Theexpiration of the trigger associated with the activated virtualworkspace could be time based; however, a trader could define differentevents that may activate the expiration of the triggers. For example, ifa virtual workspace is activated upon detecting that a market price iswithin a predetermined price range, the trigger may automatically expirewhen the market moves away from the predefined price range. However, itshould be understood that different embodiments are possible as well.Also, if a trigger includes a number of conditions that have to be metfor the trigger to activate the virtual workspace, depending on userpreferences, if one of such conditions is no longer present, the triggermay be considered expired. Alternatively, more than one condition has toexpire in order for the system to consider the trigger expired. Itshould be understood that the configuration may depend on userpreferences.

If the trigger expiration has been detected, at step 618, the currentlydisplayed windows associated with the virtual workspace can be modifiedbased on their “trigger off” states. For example, based on the triggeroff states associated with the displayed windows, the virtual workspaceapplication can deactivate the currently displayed windows, and thedisplay can be restored to the state before the virtual workspace hasbeen activated.

It should be understood that the example method 600 described inreference to FIG. 6 represents only one possible implementationdescribing the operation of the virtual workspace. According to anotherembodiment, triggers associated with different workspaces could beassigned a number of priority levels, such that if more than one triggeris detected, the priority levels associated with specific triggers couldbe used by the virtual workspace application to determine which of theworkspaces is to be displayed on a display. For example, if a triggerassociated with a currently displayed virtual workspace has a higherhierarchy level than a newly detected trigger associated with anotherworkspace, the virtual workspace application may stop the new workspacefrom being activated on the display. Different priority levelconfigurations are possible as well.

The above description of the preferred embodiments, alternativeembodiments, and specific examples, are given by way of illustration andshould not be viewed as limiting. Further, many changes andmodifications within the scope of the present embodiments may be madewithout departing from the spirit thereof, and the present inventionincludes such changes and modifications.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the system and method for event driven virtual workspace inan electronic trading environment may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes one or more computer readable media. For example,a computer readable medium can include a readable memory device, such asa hard drive device, CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a computer diskette, havingcomputer readable program code segments stored thereon. The computerreadable medium can also include a communications or transmissionmedium, such as, a bus or a communication link, either optical, wired orwireless having program code segments carried thereon as digital oranalog data signals.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. Therefore, all embodiments thatcome within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalentsthereto are claimed as the invention.

1. A method for an event driven workspace in an electronic tradingenvironment, the method including: receiving by a computing device afirst definition for a first virtual workspace, wherein the firstvirtual workspace is associated with a plurality of windows, wherein theplurality of windows are for at least two applications, wherein theplurality of windows display information pertaining to one or moretradeable objects, wherein the first virtual workspace provides a firstpredefined layout for the plurality of windows, wherein the firstpredefined layout includes a location for each of the plurality ofwindows; receiving by the computing device a second definition for asecond virtual workspace, wherein the second virtual workspace isassociated with the plurality of windows, wherein the second virtualworkspace provides a second predefined layout for the plurality ofwindows, wherein the second predefined layout includes a location foreach of the plurality of windows, wherein the second predefined layoutis different from the first predefined layout, wherein the secondvirtual workspace is associated with a triggering event definition;receiving by the computing device a limiting condition definition for alimiting condition, wherein the limiting condition definition isassociated with one of the plurality of windows; displaying by thecomputing device the plurality of windows according to the firstpredefined layout of the first virtual workspace; determining by thecomputing device whether a triggering event has occurred based on thetriggering event definition associated with the second virtual workspaceby monitoring data related to the one or more tradable objects;detecting by the computing device the triggering event based on themonitored data; determining by the computing device whether the limitingcondition is satisfied for the associated window based on the limitingcondition definition when the triggering event has been detected; andactivating by the computing device the second virtual workspace inresponse to detecting the triggering event, wherein activating thesecond virtual workspace includes displaying the plurality of windowsaccording to the second predefined layout of the second virtualworkspace except for the window associated with the limiting conditiondefinition when the limiting condition has been detected to besatisfied.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the limiting conditiondefinition is associated with the first virtual workspace.
 3. The methodof claim 1, wherein the limiting condition is based on a user action. 4.The method of claim 3, wherein the user action is movement of a cursorwithin a window of the plurality of windows.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the movement of the cursor is detected within a predeterminedtime period.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein the user action is aninput in relation to a window within a predetermined time period.
 7. Acomputer readable medium having stored therein instructions executableby a processor to perform a method comprising: receiving by a computingdevice a first definition for a first virtual workspace, wherein thefirst virtual workspace is associated with a plurality of windows,wherein the plurality of windows are for at least two applications,wherein the plurality of windows display information pertaining to oneor more tradeable objects, wherein the first virtual workspace providesa first predefined layout for the plurality of windows, wherein thefirst predefined layout includes a location for each of the plurality ofwindows; receiving by the computing device a second definition for asecond virtual workspace, wherein the second virtual workspace isassociated with the plurality of windows, wherein the second virtualworkspace provides a second predefined layout for the plurality ofwindows, wherein the second predefined layout includes a location foreach of the plurality of windows, wherein the second predefined layoutis different from the first predefined layout, wherein the secondvirtual workspace is associated with a triggering event definition;receiving by the computing device a limiting condition definition for alimiting condition, wherein the limiting condition definition isassociated with one of the plurality of windows; displaying at thecomputing device the plurality of windows according to the firstpredefined layout of the first virtual workspace; determining by thecomputing device whether a triggering event has occurred based on thetriggering event definition associated with the second virtual workspaceby monitoring data related to the one or more tradable objects;detecting by the computing device the triggering event based on themonitored data; determining by the computing device whether the limitingcondition is satisfied for the associated window based on the limitingcondition definition when the triggering event has been detected; andactivating by the computing device the second virtual workspace inresponse to detecting the triggering event, wherein activating thesecond virtual workspace includes displaying the plurality of windowsaccording to the second predefined layout of the second virtualworkspace except for the window associated with the limiting conditiondefinition when the limiting condition has been detected to besatisfied.
 8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein thelimiting condition definition is associated with the first virtualworkspace.
 9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein thelimiting condition is based on a user action.
 10. The computer readablemedium of claim 9, wherein the user action is movement of a cursorwithin a window of the plurality of windows.
 11. The computer readablemedium of claim 10, wherein the movement of the cursor is detectedwithin a predetermined time period.
 12. The computer readable medium ofclaim 9, wherein the user action is an input in relation to a windowwithin a predetermined time period.